Basic Premise
A man in very Jerusalem BC attire buys a house via debt. He does not pay up and the creditor comes to claim the house and send the man to debtors’ prison. The man’s friend comes to bail him out. The man then owes the friend the debt under new terms. This is an allegory of our relationship with Christ.
Part 1: “There is a spiritual account with a balance kept.”
Where? Wait, what? Okay so we are born. Does that put us into debt? Or are we talking sin? What removes items from the ledger and adds things to it?
He says we’ll settle that account. Well, can I get an account balance, please? How about an additional line of credit (another soul?)? Okay, it’s a metaphor, but right off the bat, God is a banker… not the most flattering of roles.
0:24 – Kid stealing cucumbers gets away with it.
0:27 – Our hero enters, what a white Jew. Wait, he’s drinking the water from the Wow.. what a white Jesus (0:50). I am THOR-JESUS. Okay, so is he a church member, then? Do we start our debt/balance account after we drink living water, or did they just put that in for fun?
1:00 – Weighing on the scales: See that rock hit the ground? Boy, that sets the tone doesn’t it? How Boyd K. Packer sees humans. Hopelessly out of balance. Heavily pounded into debt.
Part 2: The ETERNAL law of Justice.
Okay so we talk a lot about how unjust this world is. Is the ETERNAL law of justice suspended for this life? For the 6 billion years of the Earth’s existence?
I mean, maybe there is an eternal law of justice somewhere, but everything we are given to see is unjust. In fact, one could even point out that justice only exists when mankind is involved. Wolves and rabbits care nothing for justice.
01:26 – “There once was a man who wanted something very much.”
Okay so is this earth-life we’re talking about? Because the alternative there wasn’t really justice. Ya know? It was either eternal damnation or doing it God’s way. Being forced at gun-point isn’t exactly agency.
Or is it sin? Because if sin is the metaphor here, I’m just going to point out that the friend (Christ) allows our hero (ourselves) to keep the something our hero wanted very much (sin).
That seems a bad metaphor.
What exactly is it that we did to incur this debt? That is never addressed. And this is the marvel of the church. We each write our own sins in, assuming that we went into debt for them, and those sins might not even be sins.
Masturbation? Well, that wasn’t a “sin” until 1956 and still is more of a policy. Fornication? Is that what gets us into debt? Beer, that was once good, but we can feel guilty for all of it because of the wording.
01:43 – And who is the hard-assed creditor? Sure seems like it MUST be God, unless there is an arbitrary “ETERNAL LAW OF JUSTICE” that holds God accountable as well. But mercy is personified in the friend who is clearly made out to be Christ, so why not assume that the white/grey-bearded creditor is also a person?
Is it Satan? Hardly. Satan has nothing to give/offer, nor does he “demand justice.” So it must be God. Really, metaphors that make God into Jewish bankers might not be the best idea.
01:44 – “He was warned about his creditor.” Wait, who warned him about God? Or is this sin? Can Satan make loans? And Christ lets us keep our sins after? Awesome.
“He wanted what he wanted right now… he was sure he could pay for it later.”
Okay, so this is not about wanting wrong things. We get into “spiritual debt” by wanting things too soon. Like being too eager to go on a mission… er, what?
Wait, he SIGNS HIS NAME? When did you sign your name to a spiritual contract?
Again, the living water came first, and then he signs a covenant. Sounds like the “spiritual debt” is created by joining the church.
Part 3: He buys the house.
Well, if spiritual debt is sin, then he sinned for a very reasonable investment of a place to live that could help him grow, although it’s kinda a fixer-upper.
If spiritual debt is created by simply being born, then he didn’t have much choice, did he? What kind of justice is that?
02:31 – If spiritual debt is created by joining the church… did he just sell his tokens and signs for money?! Or wait, he gave money for a token and sign… bah I have no idea.
02:37 – Random act of violence against a chicken.
03:15 – “COME WITH US!”
Ah yes, don’t you dare stop toiling for a minute. I mean, having some FUN with your possessions. Just evil.
Maybe spiritual debt is incurred by having fun instead of doing church duties?
03:46 – Token payments
Here again, exchanging money for tokens… er…. giving money as tokens. Ah well, skip the pun. The point is, how do we make payments on spiritual debt? Is it by good works? Is it by going to church? Paying tithing? Hmmm… possibly, but again the brilliance of letting everyone who watches this take all their good they are doing, and showing it as a small bag and saying “it’s never enough”…
And what kind of creditor doesn’t have regular installments to be paid? Is the kid not aware of how much he SHOULD be paying in each installment? That’s not justice. Perfect justice would tell him what was expected.
04:21 – Part 4: “I cannot pay you.”
Okay, so what would justice do in this case? Does it throw people in prison? Or does it TAKE THE HOUSE that was the collateral on the mortgage?
You see how devious this is? It implies that “debtors’ prisons” are absolutely just, (probably due to the line in the Book of Mormon that says one cannot pay the utmost senine in prison). Are they just?
Does the creditor get his money by throwing people in prison? No.
Can the person pay while in prison? No.
That’s why our laws seize the collateral on the loan or garnish future wages. Why is God so unclear on justice when mere humans can figure it out?
“You signed the contract.”
Again, if this is an allegory for life, which contract did we sign?
If born = contract signed, then this implies original sin. And what kind of just Being creates his children already hopelessly in debt?!
Sin? Then when did we sign a contract? I know that many people masturbate without even knowing what it is (infants do it in the womb) so where is the contract that is well defined?
Joining the church… well there was a covenant and contract, but we were 8 years old! Indoctrinated! Peer pressure! Where is the justice in that?
04:53 – “Mercy is always so one sided.”
Wait, if he extended the time, he’d be paid… if he throws the man in jail he never gets paid. How is Justice any less one sided? It sure sounds like Justice is being played by Vengeance or Retribution in this scene.
Also… note the purple turban on Justice’s head. Purple is a royal color, again illustrating this is probably God who is just pissy about deadlines and payments and that the contract is with God.
05:28 – “You agreed to it, and that is the way it must be.”
Again, this presupposes that we signed a contract at some point. Any and all contract signers for sin… yeah, I thought not.
Now, at this point we suddenly shift. The debtor is declared to be “Mercy.” I’m not sure if the implication should be that mercy is always indebted to justice… or just that we, as people, demand mercy. Christ becomes the personification of Mercy later… but in this scene, the indebted person is STATED to be the law of mercy.
06:07 – Check out the shirtless Nephite guards in old-timey Jerusalem. It’s like they said to the props guy, “Give us anything that looks old, it doesn’t matter.” Obsidian spears… sure, why not.
06:19 – Chained and manacled. Dude, he’s a debtor, not a murderer. Talk about unjust laws. Oh wait, that’s the whole point. Perfect justice my ass.
06:47 – SHADOW JESUS is here to save you!
“He knew him to be short sighted.” – Oh… burn, you short sighted mortal. You wreckless fool. You signed a contract for… well we don’t know, and got spiritual capital that you foolishly spent on a house that you needed, and then made payments somehow to God but didn’t count on dying did you? So pathetic. Why would he even waste his perfect mercy on you? Cower, mortal.
I will pay the debt, if you will free the debtor of his contract.
Remember, we’re talking about Romans nailing this guy to a cross in the next scene. We’re talking about justification for human, if not deity, sacrifice.
How does human sacrifice pay a spiritual debt? Well that’s just more God mysteriousness, isn’t it?
Murder someone and Jesus can pay for it by dying. Spirit magic.
It’s like if you got really in debt on your visa credit card and then your next door neighbor threw himself under a bus and your card was suddenly paid for. Perfect justice AND mercy.
07:20 – “Keep his possessions.” We get to keep our sins! W00t.
“I will set the terms.” Yeah, you don’t pay me, and OUTER DARKNESS prison for you, bitch.
08:30 – Scared chicken runs from Justice-God person.
08:46 – Homoerotic gazing as one man rubs another man’s body parts with Boyd K. Packer voiceover.
08:55- Summary.
10:00- Reuse of stock footage for Thor-Jesus to stand noble with music behind him.
TL;DR: We, naughty humans, signed a contract with God for something, and because we did that foolish thing, we need Jesus to die. Justice is really not very just. It’s overbearing. Now feel bad.